Culture

The paintings of David Roberts, depicting an idyllic 19th-century Levant, are ubiquitous in many households in the region. Now, another romantic British painter, Tom Young, follows in Roberts' footsteps but with a difference. In Young's 21st-century Levant, not all is idyllic, as the artist takes his sketchbook to places like bombed-out South Beirut.

"Under the Bombs" is not just set during the 2006 Hezbollah-Israel war – it was filmed in the midst of the fighting. The film featured only four "real" actors, with the rest of the cast made up of citizens, who were responding to the conflict itself in real time. NOW LEBANON spoke with director Philippe Aractingi about his latest movie and the criticisms against it, as well as how he views Lebanese cinema.